A/N: Yea, we're dragging it out, and this is dialouge heavy, but we have a plan, so stick with it.

And REVIEW. Please?

McGee was thinking of something Abby had said a couple years ago. The team had been questioning Gibbs and his famous gut, along with his sanity, and Abby defended Gibbs' methods with a single statement. "Gibbs gut practically tells the future, you guys." McGee was beginning to suspect that his sense of trepidation could predict when someone was about to step in it, and he was predicting Tony and Ziva would step in it very soon, if they hadn't already.

As he sat at a table across from Sacks and watched them settle down at bar stools, he realized that it didn't matter that they were undercover. This was a date. Since his conversation with Abby earlier that day, he watched Tony and Ziva more carefully, and it was obvious that they were moving towards something more than partners. And like Abby, he supported it. They made each other better. And he thought Gibbs would support it too.

But going for it, without talking to Gibbs first? That would be stepping in it. Big time. And judging from what he had seen in the five minutes since they'd walked into the bar, McGee didn't think they'd be holding out much longer.

"Talk to me, McGee." Gibbs voice said through his earpiece.

"They just arrived, boss. FBI confirms that Varnaz's good friend and several business associates are here, but so far nothing out of the ordinary. We're close enough to overhear them, and Tony has a duress word." There was a short pause.

"You expecting trouble, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Not at all, boss. I just, uh, like to be prepared. It's the Boy Scout in me." Sacks snickered across the table, and Gibbs didn't say anything else, so McGee turned his attention back to Tony and Ziva.

Tony's undercover assignment was downright boring during the day. Pretending to be a Defense Department oversight official sent in to investigate weapons smuggling was arguably one of the dullest things he'd ever done. Since he was running a fake investigation, there wasn't a whole lot to occupy the many hours he was stuck pretending to work during the day.

This had provided him ample time to develop a strategy for The Big Fake Date. He researched Ziva's Mossad cover; Lina Aperador was a party girl. She was up for anything and happy go lucky with a fondness for tequila. It almost made Tony appreciate Mossad. Almost.

His cover was Aaron Cambridge, a spoiled prepster from the wealthy Main Line outside of Philadelphia. Aaron had gone to Duke, and belonged to a fraternity whose members were famous for drinking.

This led Tony to only one conclusion. Drinking was the order of the evening. He signaled the bar tender, and grinned wickedly at Ziva. "Dos tequilas por favor."

Ziva smirked playfully at him, sensing a challenge. "Y dos cervezas, por favor. Y Consiga que." The bartender nodded at her with a smile.

"What does that mean?" Tony asked. "I mean I got the cerveza part, but you didn't cover the other thing in our lessons."

"Consiga que?" Ziva repeated. She dropped one into a wink. "I suppose a rough translation would be keep them coming."

"Do you always prefer your translations rough?" Tony shot back.

"Do you always make your come ons so obvious?"

Tony hesitated for a second but she arched one eyebrow ever so slightly, and he went for it. "Lina, I'm always obviously when I come…come on, I mean."

He held her gaze steadily willing her to crack, and this one went in his favor. The corners of her mouth turned up and she burst out laughing. When she regained her composure she lifted her shot glass, and he followed suit. The tequila went straight to her head and she could feel herself teetering on the edge of falling for him so hard she'd never get up.

"So Aaron, have you seen any good movies lately?" Her wink told Tony this question was not for their cover, but purely for his enjoyment.

"I was just watching one before I left to meet you," he improvised, "But I didn't get to finish it. Paused it in the last ten minutes."

Ziva paused, considering where this was going. She had asked him that question to give herself a moment to think, to get a grip. She figured it would cause him to seize the opportunity with an answer like, oh yea, I was actually just musing on why Sean Connery is the best James Bond or No, I've been watching my Magnum box set lately. So where was he going with this?

"What was it about?" she asked cautiously.

"Well the main character is this hot, highly trained Federal agent. And the story is about his relationship with his incredibly sexy partner. She comes in, new to the team, and they have this instant chemistry. But she intimidates the shit out of him, so they're always getting in each other's face, trying to make the other one flinch first. Very aggressive flirting, innuendo heavy banter. They drive everyone else crazy."

Ziva gave him a small smile. "So he just wants to sleep with her yes?"

"At first, yea. All he can think about is shoving her against the wall, tearing her clothes off and nailing her. Because, Lina, she's not just hot, she's extraordinary."

McGee rolled his eyes at Sacks as they sat and listened to this conversation. He couldn't figure out where it was going, but Tony was laying it on.

Ziva conceded another small smile, unsure of why they were doing this, and hesitant to take it much further. "So they slept together?"

Tony grinned, and smirked at her. "Only in the guy's dreams."

Ziva arched an eyebrow, more comfortable on this territory. "I am sure his partner had her fair share of similar fantasies."

Tony paused in his story, and leaned back, appraising her. Really? He mouthed, simultaneously swiveling his stool to face her. She squeezed his knee quickly and he remembered where he was going with this.

"So, they have this crazy boss, and he quits, and the partner is the new boss. And you think it's going to tear them apart, but it actually brings them really close together. He's with her all the time. They have dinner, they have coffee, and he's at her apartment. And without realizing it, they've formed this weird bond, and all of a sudden, he's going crazy if he doesn't see her over the weekend."

"Sounds a little… co-dependent, yes?" Ziva asked.

Tony angled his body slightly towards McGee and raised his voice. "Their computer geek of a teammate certainly thinks so."

Ziva chuckled, summoned her courage and asked The Question. The Question that the led to The Conversation. One of the few discussions they'd never had. "So why didn't they get together then?"

McGee, who was now shamelessly eavesdropping, sucked in a breath. She hadn't even bothered to ask that in the context of the fictional movie Tony had woven their story into.

Tony drank about half his beer in one gulp and took a deep breath. "Their boss came back. And her partner wanted to, Lina. It was killing him. He got this undercover assignment, and lying about it to her was the hardest thing he'd ever done. But she was… a ninja. And she wasn't like the girl he usually dated. They were clingy, and needy and insecure and she was so cool, so confident. He was chicken shit. He couldn't suck it up and tell her he wanted it, because he was so freaking powerless against her."

She met his eyes, downed her second shot, and went for it. "And the undercover assignment?"

Sacks was getting a headache from all the brow furrowing he was doing. He shot McGee his fifth questioning look in as many minutes. McGee looked shocked. He leaned over the table and whispered to Sacks, "I'll try to explain later, but she just went somewhere big."

"It was a girl. Her father was an arms dealer, and he was assigned to date the daughter." Tony's voice had dropped the bravado it had when he started the story.

"So he chose to go with her instead?" Ziva questioned, her voice an almost whisper. "Less complicated model."

McGee's jaw dropped so far he thought it might hit the table, and Sacks watched Tony wince. And wince he did. Ouch. He always knew she had his number, but that was so raw and so true it threw him.

"I told you he was chicken shit," Tony said with a guilty smile, "The point is it was a mistake. And he regretted it for the rest of the movie. Cause when the assignment ended, there were trust issues, and other issues, and it was… complicated."

"So then what happened?"

"He was working on it. You know, finding a way to show her he wasn't that guy anymore, and just when they were both thinking maybe they were edging toward each other again, someone close to them died. And they got separated before they could pick up the pieces."

"Sounds like a pretty depressing movie." She commented.

"Nah. There's been some really shitty stuff, but in between, they loved every minute of it." Tony's voice went up ever so slightly at the end of the sentence, an almost undetectable inflection, asking her to confirm.

She turned the corners of her mouth upward and nodded, giving him a reason to keep talking.

"And then shit really hit the fan. And he fucked up." Tony paused, eyeing her. "But she gave him reason to. It was an almost mutual fuck up, with justifications on both sides. And she left, and boy did it almost kill him. He couldn't focus, couldn't sleep. And for awhile, he thought she was dead, and that almost did him in."

Under the bar, with their bodies blocking the gesture from view, Ziva impulsively reached out and circled her hand around his wrist, and shook her head.

"No, really, Lina," Tony insisted, "I'd sugarcoat it, but it's essential to the plot. He almost really lost it. But somehow, he got her back, and it was bad for awhile. You see, all of a sudden, she went from not trusting him, to him not trusting her. Because he didn't realize until then how committed he was to her, and she was the first person he had that kind of raw vulnerability with, and they weren't even together."

"So what made him distrust her?" She was wide eyed and whispering now, wondering how they had gotten here, and why she wasn't running away from this conversation.

"Because he felt like she left him. And she was the first woman he didn't leave before she could abandon him. And it was irrational, in light of the circumstances, but he felt like she left him. And that felt like someone ripped out his heart, crushed it and filled his chest with lead. And he acted like an idiot, but he's so sorry. He could see how much it hurt her when he pushed away, and punished her for something she didn't know she did, and he is so sorry."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. McGee felt suddenly uncomfortable, and wished he could get up and leave, or plug his ears; this was something private.

Tony sensed she wasn't going to say anything else, so he charged ahead. "So I'm almost at the end, and the guy's in the bathroom, when his partner charges in, and basically tells him she knows they're gonna happen, and oh my God, Lina, he is so over the moon about it that it's actually hard to describe."

"Over the moon?" Ziva repeated. Her face was scrunched in familiar confusion.

Tony laughed. "Yea. Happier than happy, ecstatic, elated. You know, over the moon."

"Oh. So that is a good thing."

"It's a very good thing. So he can't believe he's gotten this lucky. And as much as he wants to figure it out, and define what they'll be, he wants her to take her time. I mean, he definitely wants her; dear God, he wants her. But he also wants to be able to kiss her on the head when she messes up her idioms, and slip an arm around her in the elevator whenever he feels like it. Tell her exactly how much he cares about her."

He met Ziva's eyes and she looked down. "But he gets it, and he'll wait. She can take all the time she needs to be ready, because he'll wait forever for her." She looked up sharply, and he could have sworn her eyes had misted over.

"So all in all it turned out to have a happy ending."

"How do you know?" she asked, her voice teasing again, "You said you didn't finish it."

Tony shrugged. "I have a gut feeling. They're going to make it." She squeezed his hand under the table and they looked at each other in a way she wasn't used to it.

McGee watched them watch each other, looking for telltale signs of eye sex, but found none. Finally, Tony broke the gaze by leaning in and kissing her quickly on the lips. "They're going to be just fine." He repeated.

Her attention was diverted by the bartender placing fresh shots in front of them. She handed one to Tony and raised hers in the air. "I will drink to that."

Gibbs and Fornell were sitting in their Colombian squad room, and Gibbs felt like he was wasting his time. Sitting around listening to McGee and Sacks whisper about Tony and Ziva was like listening to two high school boys talk about the king and queen at prom, and it bothered Gibbs on way too many levels.

"This better work, Jethro." Fornell said, interrupting his thoughts. He removed his earpiece and sat back in his chair. Gibbs followed suit.

"He'll come looking for her," Gibbs said, "That's not the part I'm worried about."

"Of course he will," Fornell agreed, "That's not the part I'm worried about either. It's why. To be honest, Gibbs, David seems like she's holding something back."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Fornell and waited. "Oh hell, Jethro, they're good kids. I'd hate to lose any of our agents."

Gibbs chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yea, Tobias. I can see that." He paused before speaking again. "She's protecting someone else from worrying about her."

"Well I know thing, Gibbs. It's not you she's protecting." Fornell quipped.

"Oh," Gibbs shot back, "Do you think, Fornell?" He rolled his eyes. "No, she doesn't want him to do something stupid."

"Do you think he would?"

"Got one word for you, Fornell. Somalia."

"Good point." Gibbs thought about it for a few more minutes, and then stood up. "Keep things under control here. I gotta talk to Vance."

Tony was relieved. He had gotten everything out of his system, and they were safely back on solidly flirtatious ground. He had no idea why he chose now to pour his heart out and get right into the heavy stuff, but it kind of worked.

He thought maybe Ziva was going to chide him for taking the easy way out and telling the story instead of directly confronting the issues, but he realized this was much more…them. Neither of them was inclined to make a big deal of having state of the relationship talks, and Tony being Tony kind of worked.

He made a mental note of that for the next time she told him to Stop being so DiNozzo about this, DiNozzo!

"You really do look quite fetching in that dress, Miss Aperador." He drawled, looking her up and down for the hundredth time that night. She grinned devilishly, giving him that damn look; they look she shot him where her eyes were darker than usual and her mouth was slightly open. It was her dirty thoughts look and it got him every time.

"You do not look so bad yourself." She purred, reaching out to straighten his tie. She placed her hand on his chest and left it there for a minute too long. Before he knew what he was doing, he had pulled down from her stool so she was standing in front of him, their faces at even heights. Her hand slid from his chest to his shoulder, and his sat on her hips. He started to pull her closer, to finally press his mouth down on hers, and snake a hand in her hair when he caught sight of Sacks and McGee watching them, McGee in an obvious stunned horror.

Ziva followed his gaze and side stepped away from the bar. "Ladies room." She said lightly, heading toward the door. Tony let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Jesus." He muttered, taking the shot sitting in front of him. He motioned to the bartender, who had been following Ziva's orders in keeping them coming, hoping he'd keep them coming faster.

Ziva pressed her forehead against the metal of the bathroom stall, ignoring the sanity concerns in doing so. Her heart was racing, and her blood was pumping double time. The feeling of deep and simple want permeated her stomach and made itself heard between her legs. She took a few deep breaths, afraid she might actually be shaking, before making her way back to him.

When she returned, she found several new shots in front of them. She grinned at Tony, who was grinning at her. "I'll race you, Linah." He taunted, drawing out the 'A' like he did with Ziva.

"You'll be watching me cross the finish line." She shot back, picking up a glass without sitting down.

His eyes dropped back to her ass. "In that case, I'll lose on purpose."